Our next article in our series of Blogs is written by the Brigade Secretary Martin Lambourne. Please check back next month for a new blog on the latest news from NHQ.  To read the full blog click on Read More.

Keeping up with the times!

We are launching our new online membership system this week. Yet another feature of a digital age. I don’t think it has created the ‘paperless society’ which was heralded years ago, but it has brought huge changes to the way we communicate and live our lives.

Much of the technology we now use makes us wonder how we managed before computers, mobile phones, iPads and the like. Some of us have a job keeping up with the changes. For myself, much of the change has been good in terms of fast and cheap communication methods. That said, there are areas of technology that have also created issues of concern.

Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are brilliant vehicles for sharing news, ideas and information – but are also arenas for abuse and misuse which has to be addressed. The Brigade will be publishing guidelines on our “Brigade” use of such platforms for public sharing.

One of the problems with fast moving technology is that how we use it properly and ethically is often a catch-up question. Genetic engineering as well as privacy and surveillance are some of the areas where we are still trying to establish our adequate response to difficult balances between what is useful and what is ‘right’.

In an age like ours, the values and beliefs which characterize CLCGB are of paramount importance. We share a set of values, based on Christian principles, which have guided our organization for well over a hundred years. Unlike technology, values of personal worth and respect for each other never date. They are there to undergird our decisions on all sorts of issues confronting us daily.

We do well to revisit those values from time to time – and as often as we update our Apps on our mobiles – to make sure that what we do and the opinions we share, in person or online, still keep us true to the pattern our Lord offered us of a Servant King who values people above all else.